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MG MOTOR’S freshly launched ZS crossover has failed to match the five-star rating achieved by its GS mid-size SUV stablemate earlier this year in the latest round of crash safety testing by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

The Chinese-built Mazda CX-3 rivalling ZS launched Down Under last month from $20,990 before on-road costs and scored a total of 31.46 points out of a maximum 37, meaning it was awarded a four-star rating.

ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin highlighted the ZS’s poor result in the frontal offset crash test – it scored 10.46 out of 16 – as one of the reasons the crossover failed to match the top result of the GS.

“SUVs are now the top-selling vehicle segment in Australia and New Zealand and these ratings speak clearly that some are safer than others,” he said.

“We were impressed earlier this year with the safety performance of MG’s larger GS model – the very first Chinese vehicle to achieve the top safety rating – however its smaller stablemate, the ZS, does not perform as well. Its rating is held back to 4 stars due to sub-par performance in our head-on crash test.”

The GS scored four stars in its initial test in January this year, but running safety improvements made mid-year boosted the GS’s rating to five stars in September.

ANCAP said that insufficient inflation of the passenger airbag caused a ‘bottoming-out’ of the dummy head through the airbag and onto the dash, while driver’s knee protection area was also insufficient. The ZS is not offered with autonomous emergency braking or lane support assist systems.

The ZS did score full marks in the side impact test and the pole test, while whiplash protection was deemed ‘good’ and pedestrian protection was rated as ‘acceptable’.

In other results in this round of tests, Hyundai’s new Kona compact SUV and Holden’s just-launched Equinox mid-sizer both achieved the maximum five-star rating.

The Kona received a total score of 35.07 out of 37, only losing points in the frontal offset test for chest and lower leg protection and pedestrian protection, but scoring strongly elsewhere.

Holden’s new Equinox scored 34.21 out of 37, losing a few points in the side impact and pole test as well as pedestrian protection, but, like the Kona, maintained a solid performance overall.

Mr Goodwin praised the Kona in particular for offering “good all-round safety”, but also commended the performance of the Equinox.

“Its (Kona’s) crash test performance was well within five-star range, and AEB is offered for all variants though it must be optioned on the base variant in Australia. AEB is, however, a standard inclusion on all New Zealand variants.

“The Equinox is also a good structural performer in all physical crash tests, but consumers will need to opt for higher-specced variants to receive the added safety benefits of AEB and lane keep assist.”

The five-star rating applies to all variants of the Kona and Equinox and a four-star rating applies to all ZS variants.